digital audio – Gigaomhttp://gigaom.com
The industry leader in emerging technology researchThu, 17 Aug 2017 12:00:16 +0000en-UShourly1It’s official: Apple is buying Beats for $3 billionhttp://gigaom.com/2014/05/28/its-official-apple-is-buying-beats-for-3-billion/
http://gigaom.com/2014/05/28/its-official-apple-is-buying-beats-for-3-billion/#commentsWed, 28 May 2014 20:32:16 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=845257Following weeks of rumors, Apple (S AAPL) just made it official and announced the acquisition of headphone maker Beats Electronics and its Beats Music digital music subscription service for $3 billion. The acquisition is made up of a $2.6 billion purchase price and an additional $400 million that will vest over time. Apple is expecting the acquisition to close in the fourth quarter of this year.

“Music is such an important part of all of our lives and holds a special place within our hearts at Apple. That’s why we have kept investing in music and are bringing together these extraordinary teams so we can continue to create the most innovative music products and services in the world.”

“Music is such an important part of Apple’s DNA and always will be. The addition of Beats will make our music lineup even better, from free streaming with iTunes Radio to a world-class subscription service in Beats, and of course buying music from the iTunes Store as customers have loved to do for years.”

Apple hasn’t said yet how it is going to integrate Beats into its company, but Cue’s remarks hint at the possibility of running Beats Music as a separate subscription service that complements, and not replaces, iTunes digital downloads and the Pandora-like iTunes radio offering.

Jimmy Iovine, Tim Cook, Dr. Dre and Eddy Cue.

Beats Music is arguably a smaller part of the business, with an estimated subscriber base of 200,000 and a total of $120 million in funding. Beats Electronics, on the other hand, sells an estimated $1.5 billion in hardware per year. The acquisition of Beats Music has nonetheless the potential to radically transform the digital music business.

Beats Electronics Founder and CEO Jimmy Iovine, who will join Apple as part of the acquisition with his business partner Dr. Dre, is scheduled to go on stage at the Code conference later this afternoon. We will be covering his on-stage interview on Gigaom.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2014/05/28/its-official-apple-is-buying-beats-for-3-billion/feed/1Audio engineering pioneer John Meyer: Stop chasing the next big thing, and go with FLAC insteadhttp://gigaom.com/2014/04/18/audio-engineering-pioneer-john-meyer-stop-chasing-the-next-big-thing-and-go-with-flac-instead/
http://gigaom.com/2014/04/18/audio-engineering-pioneer-john-meyer-stop-chasing-the-next-big-thing-and-go-with-flac-instead/#commentsFri, 18 Apr 2014 14:00:47 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=835009John Meyer may be making really expensive loudspeakers, but when it comes to high-end audio, the audio engineering pioneer prefers free. FLAC, the open source audio format developed by Grateful Dead fans to trade bootleg recordings, is “the perfect format” for music aficionados looking for higher-resolution audio, Meyer told me during a recent interview. And to him, any company pushing trying to make a buck with selling upsampled music is just out to sell snake oil. “It’s tricking people who don’t know enough about technology,” he said.

Ordinary music fans may never have heard of John Meyer, but chances are, he has helped them to enjoy music at one point or another. Speakers from Berkeley, California-based Meyer Sound, the company he co-founded with his wife in 1979, have powered tours from artists like Bob Dylan, Metallica, Herbie Hancock and Usher. They’re used for Cirque de Soleil shows, have helped address crowds of 800,000, power churches, concert venues, casinos and movie theaters around the world.

A Meyer Sound system on tour with Bassnectar. Image: Meyer Sound.

In professional audio engineering circles, Meyer is regarded as a pioneer, because he was one of the first to take the idea of linearity — meaning that the audio coming out of the speaker should sound exactly like the input, just more amplified — from studio monitors to concert venues and stadiums.

He also was an early proponent of self-powered speakers, which are basically speakers that already contain the amplifier and all related electronics. Most recently, Meyer has made waves with acoustic systems that can shape the sound of a room through a combination of microphones and loudspeakers, helping churches to adapt to a wide variety of performances and keeping the noise level in high-end restaurants at bay. In other words, he knows a thing or two about audio.

I recently got invited to visit the Meyer Sound production facility in Berkeley, where the company locally produces each and every part of their speakers in a slow process that ensures quality control from start to finish, and chatted a bit with Meyer about how technology has been changing his industry. Overall, Meyer was very optimistic about the impact of new technologies. But when I asked him how this shapes the way consumers get to experience sound, he struck a cautious note. “I’m worried that my generation has gotten too lost in the technology,” he told me.

That’s because Meyer sees a move towards two extremes. One the one side is highly compressed sound, which Meyer called elevator music, only to add: “There is nothing wrong with elevator music. It just shouldn’t be the diet that everyone has.” One the other hand is a trend to ever higher bit rates that resembles the megapixel wars in the digital camera space, with companies trying to push digital music towards a resolution of 192 kHz, often combined with proprietary formats.

Meyer said that it simply “doesn’t make sense” to go higher than 96 kHz / 24 bit, which already is an order of magnitude better than standard CD audio. He also lamented that companies are trying to sell upsampled music — songs that were recorded with lower bitrates and resolutions, but are then altered to offer the appearance of a higher-resolution. “Using 24/96 is not the answer unless it is recorded in 24/96,” Meyer quipped, adding that people are getting wiser about snake oil claims, thanks largely to internet forums. “You can’t win those fights anymore, you can’t bamboozle the public,” he said.

Music companies and high-definition music vendors should instead embrace the open FLAC audio format, he suggested. “It’s well worked out, it’s geeky,” he said, adding that by his estimates, around 250,000 people are already downloading FLAC music files from the internet. He called on people in his industry to educate consumers about the value of something like FLAC. Instead, many would waste their time chasing new technologies. “I’m saying we should stop,” Meyer said.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2014/04/18/audio-engineering-pioneer-john-meyer-stop-chasing-the-next-big-thing-and-go-with-flac-instead/feed/30Neil Young’s Pono music player is looking to raise $800,000 from Kickstarterhttp://gigaom.com/2014/03/11/neil-youngs-pono-is-looking-to-raise-800000-from-kickstarter/
Tue, 11 Mar 2014 18:08:10 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=823922The Kickstarter campaign for Pono, the high-resolution music startup founded by Neil Young, is live, with an ambitious goal: Pono wants to raise $800,000 within the next 34 days to fund the production of its portable music player. Early backers have a chance to pick up a Pono player for $200, as opposed to the $400 retail price it will be selling for this fall. Other rewards include posters signed by Neil Young and a private dinner with the rock star. The campaign page also includes a few more technical details, including that Pono will play FLAC files with bit rates of up to 9216 kbps.
]]>Google Glass as a music player sounds good but it sucks (your battery)http://gigaom.com/2013/12/10/google-glass-as-a-music-player-sounds-good-but-it-sucks-your-battery/
Tue, 10 Dec 2013 16:47:09 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=722752After using Google(s goog) Glass on a limited basis, I’m convinced it’s an amazing product. Is it the best device for multimedia entertainment though? I had my doubts last week when Google Glass got its own Play Music app, mainly because the wearable device has a relatively small battery for its radios and display.

A few recent reports on Tuesday suggest my concern was well-founded, even if the audio quality for music on Glass is solid.

“Finally, there’s the issue of battery. Google doesn’t specifically list battery capacity on Glass — it says one day, which is generous — so you definitely feel any continuous use. I listened to Pearl Jam’s latest from front to back (ask your parents what that means, kids). The 46 minutes of tunes took about 23 percentage points of battery off my Glass. Maybe not as much as I’d feared — not having the display on certainly helps — but that’s still almost a quarter of the device’s lifespace before recharging.”

“From the start, my main objection to Google’s plan to turn Glass into the ultimate iPod replacement was battery life. Battery life is abysmal on the first edition of Google Glass (XE-B) and the second edition (XE-C) barely seems to have improved matters, at least in my initial testing. Unfortunately, my fears were confirmed. I started playing music over Glass with 40% battery life. Ten minutes later, I was down to 27%. After 20 minutes, about five songs in, I was in the red at 15% remaining battery. Weak.”

For occasional audio use, Glass in its current iteration might be fine. I’ve heard nothing but good things about the sound quality of playback. For any extended audio time, however, I think too much is being asked of the device.

I can see why Google has added playback support, as well as an optional $85 stereo earbud accessory for Glass. The idea of Glass is to wear it all the time: More usage means greater engagement with Google and its services. Unless the final consumer version brings a big boost in battery life though, usage could actually drop on Glass as people will have to recharge their devices more often.

It’s also worth noting the challenge Google faces with Glass: There seem to be competing design requirements. One the one hand, Glass needs to be light enough to wear comfortably for hours at a time. It also can’t be too bulky. On the other hand, smaller, lighter devices by default tend to have smaller batteries. Unless there’s a battery breakthrough in the works, Glass might be better without entertainment style features that will use up juice that could be better used for features more unique to a wearable computer with display.

After an increasing backlash from some high-profile musicians, Spotify is going on the offensive by sharing some information on how it generates money for the music industry. Aside from average pay-outs, which range from $0.006 to $0.0084 per play, the service is also offering musicians detailed statistics, and even an additional revenue stream: Spotify has teamed up with Topspin to allow bands to sell merchandise through its service.

]]>Rdio taps former Amazon exec Anthony Bay as new CEOhttp://gigaom.com/2013/12/03/rdio-taps-former-amazon-exec-anthony-bay-as-new-ceo/
Tue, 03 Dec 2013 09:19:34 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=720642Rdio named Anthony Bay as its new CEO Tuesday. Bay joins the digital music subscription service from Amazon(s amzn), where he was working as Global head of Digital Video. That’s an interesting background, considering that Rdio also is operating a digital video service called Vdio — but for now, Bay seems to be concentrated on Rdio’s music business, as the company’s press release doesn’t mention Vdio with a single word. Of course, it’s not like Rdio won’t keep Bay busy: The company has been trying to catch up with Spotify by partnering with radio network Cumulus to launch free, ad-supported services. But making the numbers work hasn’t been easy for Rdio, which recently laid off a reported 35 employees.
]]>Samsung Muse, the MP3 player that syncs with your phonehttp://gigaom.com/2012/12/07/samsung-muse-the-mp3-player-that-syncs-with-your-phone/
http://gigaom.com/2012/12/07/samsung-muse-the-mp3-player-that-syncs-with-your-phone/#commentsFri, 07 Dec 2012 19:54:10 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=592098Samsung introduced a new portable MP3 player with a twist on Friday: The Muse doesn’t get its music from a PC but instead syncs audio files from a smartphone. The small pebble-looking device sells for $49.99 direct from Samsung and is optimized to work with specific Samsung phones: the Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note, Galaxy S II, and Galaxy S II Skyrocket.The small device includes a clip so you can carry it in a pocket or attach it to your clothing.

In what some call the “post PC” world, the lack of a needed PC is interesting here. A companion app found in the Google Play store moves music from smartphone to Muse over an included micro USB cable and manages the 4 GB of internal storage inside the digital audio player. With the Muse Sync app, you can sync by artist, album or playlist from your smartphone. The setup of getting music on the Muse without a PC shows another move away from full-blown computing platforms for what’s typically a core activity today.

Why even offer a companion MP3 player when any of the supported smartphones work perfectly fine for music? The Muse is intended for those who want to exercise while listening to music but don’t want to do so with a phone. I can personally relate as I’ve run nearly 1,500 miles since 2011 mostly when carrying a smartphone.

The bulk of those miles were with a Galaxy Nexus, but now that I use a Galaxy Note 2 with 5.5-inch display, I wouldn’t even think of running with my phone. I have solid alternatives already for tunes on the run, but if I didn’t, I’d probably drop the $50 for a Muse right away.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2012/12/07/samsung-muse-the-mp3-player-that-syncs-with-your-phone/feed/1Paying to play: The fight over online musichttp://gigaom.com/2012/11/16/paying-to-play-the-fight-over-online-music/
Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:06:16 +0000http://pro.gigaom.com/?post_type=go_shortpost&p=158345Compact discs have long-since lost pride of place as a way to acquire music, shoved aside by single-track downloads (both legal and otherwise) and, more recently, streaming. Since 2000, sales of CDs have fallen from nearly $14 billion per year in the U.S. to less than $5 billion today.

The decline of CD sales is only part of the story, however. Even with the success of iTunes, Amazon’s MP3 store and other digital retailers, personally owned recordings — copies — whether physical or digital, have begun to lose pride of place as a means of listening to music as well.

According to a report issued last by the NPD Group, the number of consumers who reported listening to music via CD in the previous three months dropped 16 percent, compared to the same period last year. While some of that decline no doubt reflects the continued growth in mobile listening, where CDs are impractical, digital-format copies are also declining as a listening source. According to NPD, the number of consumers who reported listening to music from digital downloads declined 2 percent over the previous three months.

At the same time, reliance on music services as listening sources is soaring. According to NPD, 50 percent of Internet users (96 million consumers) tuned into an internet radio or on-demand music service over the three-month period. The audience for internet radio (Pandora) grew 27 percent year-over-year, while the audience for on-demand services (Spotify, Rhapsody, Rdio) grew 18 percent. Traditional AM/FM radio saw a 4 percent decline.

That shift in listening from recordings to streaming services marks an acceleration and amplification of the broader shift in the music business from a an economy based on the sale of goods to one based on access to performances. And it is fueling the fight now erupting on Capitol Hill over the royalty rates assigned to different types of performances.

Music performances, whether live or from recorded sources, are governed by a complex web of compulsory licenses, statutory royalties, collective licensing and direct negotiations. For reasons that are as much historical and political as legal or technological, however, performance royalty rates and calculations differ according to how the performance is transmitted to the listener.

Satellite radio services like Sirius, for instance, pay 8% of their revenue to the record labels and artists, while cable TV services like Music Choice pay 15%. Internet radio services like Pandora, however, pay a fraction of a cent each time a song is streamed. The difference is the result of the different standard under copyright law used to calculate the respective rates.

On-demand streaming services like Spotify and Rhapsody, meanwhile, are required to negotiate performance fees directly with the labels, while traditional broadcast radio stations pay nothing to artists and labels for playing their records on the air.

Artists groups and the record labels fear the same thing — lower rates — and are pushing back hard. This week, a group of 127 musicians organized by the musicFirst coalition sent an open letter to Congress strongly opposing the bill and criticizing Pandora.

“Pandora is now enjoying phenomenal success as a Wall Street company. Skyrocketing growth in revenues and users. At the same time, the music community is just now beginning to gain a footing in this new digital world,” the letter states. “Pandora’s principal asset is the music. Why is the company asking Congress once again to step in and gut the royalties that thousands of musicians rely upon?”

The fight has also drawn in a diverse array of interests on both sides. Last week, the NAACP sent its own letter to Congress opposing the bill, saying it “fails the basic test of economic fairness and discriminates against singers and musicians by slashing the compensation they receive when their work is played over digital online radio.”

Anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, weighed in this week with a letter urging Congress to get out of the rate-setting business altogether and leave all royalties to private negotiations.

Underlying it all is a fear that a music economy based on performance rights fees will leave a smaller overall pool of dollars than a system based on the sale of copies. When the pie gets smaller, the fight over the size of the slices gets more intense.

]]>AudioGlove makes iPhones 20 percent louder, no tech involvedhttp://gigaom.com/2012/08/02/audioglove-makes-iphones-20-percent-louder-no-tech-involved/
http://gigaom.com/2012/08/02/audioglove-makes-iphones-20-percent-louder-no-tech-involved/#commentsThu, 02 Aug 2012 18:03:06 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=549502Multiple microphones and amplifier technology are helping to make phone calls, songs and videos sound louder and clearer for some time. Don’t rule out “old school” approaches, however. Falco Freeman has a created a Kickstarter project for the AudioGlove; an iPhone(s aapl) case that uses simple accoustics to boost sound as needed and it clearly works; testing at Dolby’s sound labs proved the case, as it were, which should boost sound volume by about 20 percent.

Conceptually, the idea makes sense. When you need the sound boost, you extend the bottom of the case, creating an accoustic channel to boost both sound levels and the microphone input. Think of it as passive noise-cancellation on one hand and compressing or aiming sound waves for richer and louder audio. Here’s how it works and what it looks like:

The AudioGlove project only has around $8,400 of its $30,000 funding goal, but you have until Sept. 4 to get in on the action. As little as $20 gets you an AudioGlove case while $45 includes an aluminum stand for an AudioGlove-protected iPhone.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2012/08/02/audioglove-makes-iphones-20-percent-louder-no-tech-involved/feed/9Social-TV apps: understanding consumer behavior and the evolving ecosystemhttp://gigaom.com/report/social-tv-apps-understanding-consumer-behavior-and-the-evolving-ecosystem/
http://gigaom.com/report/social-tv-apps-understanding-consumer-behavior-and-the-evolving-ecosystem/#respondTue, 17 Jul 2012 06:55:18 +0000http://pro.gigaom.com/?post_type=go-report&p=180069/A new category of digital media has emerged in the living room: social TV. This relatively new concept can be defined as any application, website or software that allows viewers to interact with television programming and share that interaction with others. Interactive TV allows consumers to vote, recommend, shop, share or influence the story; social TV lets people share the nature of their TV engagement with others.

Currently social TV occurs in three ways:

Organically. Consumers post and message one another about the programs they are watching using smartphone apps, PCs or plain SMS.

Pure play. This involves using mobile apps such as GetGlue on the tablet or smartphone.

TV-native or set-top-box-enabled communication. This is done via webenabled television or applications or features on set-top boxes or living-room entertainment systems like Boxee, TiVo, Apple TV or Xbox.

This report will focus specifically on pure play. (Television here will be defined as any video-based programming originating on the living-room screen, both original-air television programming and time-delayed or catalog television content.)

Key questions addressed are:

What is the consumer adoption currently, and how will it grow and change?

What user experiences are most resonating with consumers?

Who are the players in this space?

What business models are evolving in this space, and which models and players are likely to succeed?

What competitors are on the horizon?

What kinds of enabling businesses can be established to profit from the consumer trend to link television viewing with the social graph?